CappuccinoandArtJournal

Sunday, August 14, 2011

You Want Mail?

Quite a lot of people have been e-mailing and writing letters to me and asking about getting pen pals or how to get more involved in mail art.
So, I decided to write a post about it.

Everyone who reads this blog knows how much I love to get mail.
To get good mail you really have to send good mail.
I've been writing letters and corresponding with people all over the world for just about my whole life.
It takes some effort to get started and some people won't write back but just keep trying.

I know it's been said already, but people just don't save email like they do letters.
Look at these old beauties.
These letters weren't even sent to me but I love reading them.

And you don't get gorgeous stamps like these on emails.
But I know I am preaching to the choir.

If you are looking for mail artists and/or pen pals, get yourself over to Carolee's blog
right this minute and check out all the folks who are doing the same --

It will take some effort to read through all those blog posts but I guarantee you will find people who love mail on there.
I have gotten quite a number of wonderful correspondents from that post.
My suggestion is, write some letters! Don't just add your name to the post and ask people to write to you.

Mail Art Received
If you are interested in mail art, you might try joining IUOMA -
International Union of Mail Artists or join up with the Mail Art365 group -- a great bunch of people who are committed to making and sending a mail art card every day for a year.

Another thing to try, how about writing letters (and asking questions) to members of your own family? Moms and Dads and grandparents would most likely be thrilled to get letters and if they write you back you will have a lovely stack of family history to save and share.
I treasure all my letters from my mom.
This envelope is from her -- every time I see that rubber stamp giving the finger I laugh. (I wish I had it)
You could say she was kind of anti-establishment.

Try to make your mail interesting. Enclose some extras things inside the envelope - photos of your town, a great recipe, bookmarks....anything local and interesting to share. As you write and get to know people you can send them things you know would be interesting to them - a book or a movie review etc.

There are some mail art blogs on the left side of this post and a special favorite of mine is
Make Every Day A Red Letter Day. Go over and click!
I hope you all know know about Jennie and Carolee's book --

You can look online and google "mail art" for ideas and stimulation, start your own mail art/letter writing group and meet up every couple of weeks or one a month to exchange ideas and write letters or
make art, check out Pininterest and search for mail art, join the

You can leave comments on this blog post if you are looking for others to write to -- you can leave your name and address (if you are OK with that) and write something about yourself or an email address and maybe some new mail art connections will be made right here!

If you have any ideas about getting mail, please add them to the comments!
I bet there are some more really good ideas out there that I've missed. Remember, Cappuccino and Art Journal is also on FaceBook and I post "extras" on there - links and photos - so check it out.
******
Let's make every day A GOOD MAIL DAY!

i am currently working on a project which aims at connecting new people together by publishing a series of address listings of folks currently involved in mail art; send me a 4x6" postcard with your postal and email address included, and i will include your art alongside other mail artists in a digital collage from the postcards sent in; alongside each collage, i will publish the list of addresses for the artists contained in the collage.

i will publish these both online as well as sending out copies to folks in the mail.

i also want to point out that the best way to get started in mail art is to create lots of mail. some people focus on creating very time-consuming, intricate artwork; but frankly, mail art is about people and creating connections between them. the more mail you send, the more you will receive; mail art is just another form of communication, the message is more important than the package that contains it! some folks' art tends to get overlooked because it's not as pretty as other people's; but that's really a shame!!!treat everything that comes in with a measure of respect, because i find more often than not that the deepest thoughts tend to come with ugly exteriors!

and always make sure to take a second moment with each piece, before putting it away and forgetting about it. someone took the time to send that to you, make sure you take the time to appreciate it!

Very true, SuperHero. Good tips. Thanks for commenting. And it is true--best way to get started is to send out a lot of mail....eventually you get in to the mail art network and start getting back some great stuff...

my name is bruno, i am a brazilian guy from rio de janeiro and i enjoy sending and receiving things through the mail, from an early age.i like handmade things, postcards, fountain pens, labels, vintage mail stickers, rubber stamps, par avion envelopes... besides, i enjoy indie rock, photography and travelling.send an e-mail (beingbruno@hotmail.com) or drop a line on my blog if you want to write!

Pamela, thanks for a great post! You are one of my favorite mailartists and I always look forward to seeing you in my mailbox :> I never get tired of looking for new opportunities to exchange letters and mailart with other ladies, so if any of you out there are interested please e-mail me at LAWteatime@aol.com for my mailing address. I am a "young" 63 yr old lady/wife/mother/grandmother that is having a blast with mailart...so much fun to recycle vintage paper ephemera, rubber stamps, cancelled postage stamps, junk mail, etc.

What an awesome post! I love all the mailart I've seen around different blogs. I'm just a beginner. I've made a couple of envelopes from calenders and scrap booking paper, but haven't attempted real mail art. If anyone is interested in writing to me, please contact me by e-mail for my address, thanks! My e-mail: vagirl1@care2.comI'd love to hear from you! Thank you Pamela for this opportunity! You're great and soooo talented!

What a great blog you have. I certainly am going to visit it more often, and even perhaps subscribe to the mail art 365 thing! Thank you for showing me. Greetings, Bregtje (from dutchhomestead.weebly.com)

. I recycle different papers to make envelopes more ... I will not send candy but will full of mail art, friendship books,atc, paper snowflakes, kirigami card, photos, postcard and labels! those who wish to exchange with me;write to oficinadeartte@gmail.com

Wowee! What an excellent post :) And there's so many people on here I want to send mail too - I'll have to schedule off an afternoon just to read all these comments and visit everyone's blogs! I'm going to put your site on my blogroll so people who visit my mail art project (DearHolly) can find it! Thanks for the wonderful networking you're encouraging! - Jess Barlow.

It is interesting to see these older posts. There is now a lovely Facebook group called League of Extraordinary Penpals that is also a great source for true pen pals. I also enjoy that it's a subscription service so it encourages more serious folks. As for Mail Art, the International Union of Mail Artists is also a great group of free-thinkers and creative folks. Their website is amazing and chock-full of like-minded people.

Hi MeMa -- nice to know someone is looking at these older posts. I have been thinking of updating it. I am a member if IUOMA and yes -- a good place to look for mail artists to trade with. I hadn't heard about that FB group. Thanks for reading the blog and commenting!

Annette -- This is an old post so I doubt too many folks actually read it any more. You may want to keep an eye on the new blog posts -- I may do a name/email exchange post if there is enough interest but so far only three people say they want it on my latest post....thanks for commenting and I am glad you enjoy the blog.